Iraqi Persians
ايرانيان عراق (Persian)
إيرانيو العراق (Arabic)
Regions with significant populations
Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra
 Iraq486,000[1]
 Iran400,000[2]
Languages
Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish
Religion
Shiʿa Islam[3]
Related ethnic groups
'Ajam of Kuwait

Iraqi Persians (Persian: ایرانیان عراق, Arabic: إيرانيو العراق) or Iranians in Iraq (Persian: ایرانیان در عراق, Arabic: الإيرانيون في العراق) are Iraqi citizens of Iranian descent and background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, since the Fall of Babylon.

History

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saddam Hussein exiled between 350,000[4][5] to 650,000 Iraqi citizens of Iranian ancestry.[2] Most of them went to Iran. Most could prove an Iranian ancestry in Iran's court received Iranian citizenship (400,000) and some of them returned to Iraq immediately after his fall.[2] The population of Iraqis of Iranian descent is currently 486,000[6] (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).

Culture

Most Persian Iraqis belong to Twelver Shīʿa Islam, the same religion that most Iraqis belong to.

See also

References

  1. ^ Project, Joshua. "Persian in Iraq". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2022-05-20.
  2. ^ a b c "Hamshahri Newspaper (In Persian)". hamshahri.org. Retrieved 12 November 2014.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Pahlavan, Demographic Movements in the Region, p. 147.
  4. ^ Iranica Online
  5. ^ U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Project, Joshua. "Persian in Iraq". joshuaproject.net. Retrieved 2022-05-20.
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